


Milky Way's Got Talent

by DoctorpooandtheTURDIS



Series: The New Adventures of Doctor Who [6]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Music, Singing, Songfic, Talent Shows, The Doctor has a cane, There's a reference to Star Trek Voyager, This was just an excuse to write Susan and Will making heart eyes for each other, can you spot it?, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27907021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorpooandtheTURDIS/pseuds/DoctorpooandtheTURDIS
Summary: The Doctor takes Susan and Will to a space station stadium in the far future, for the television event of the millennium. Once there, they find that the prize for the competition is a sapient being. There is only one course of action the Doctor can think of:Make the two idiots in love get on stage and sing their hearts out to win.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Will Byers/Susan Foreman
Series: The New Adventures of Doctor Who [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840504





	Milky Way's Got Talent

Deep in space, floating freely in a nebula mixed with blue, red, and green stardust, there floated a massive space station, shaped rather like a torus with a sphere in the centre.

This was the Stardome, the Milky Way’s premiere venue for events of all types, like the Madison Square Garden of interstellar civilization. In the enormous halls on the inside of the station, crowds of people went about their business, waiting for the event they had gathered for to begin.

Among that crowd, three people walked.

Two Gallifreyans and a Human.

“Oop,” Will narrowly dodged an alien running pushing the way through the crowd, “Damn, there are a lot of people here. What’re they doing?”

“I told you!” The Doctor pushed down the corridors, trying not to bump into any others. “It’s the entertainment event of the millennium!”

“Yeah, you _said_ that.” Will shot back. “But you still haven’t explained _what_ it is.”

“It’s a surprise!” The Doctor replied, pulling the two behind him through the hallways to the centre auditorium. “Come on, come on, come on!” He quickly rushed them to three seats in one of the rows kinda far from the stage, but not too far.

Will sighed, becoming one with the seat, as Susan put her arm around him, cuddling up to him as they waited for the event to start.

The lights in the place dimmed, fixtures on the stage lighting up in an array of colors.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” The hype guy, a Turian with a flanged voice wearing a blue and red suit strode out onto the stage. “EVERYBODY IN BETWEEN OUTSIDE OF AND BEYOND, WELCOME BACK TO _MILKY WAY’S GOT TALENT!”_

The crowd erupted into applause, Asari, Turians, Krogan, Salarians, Batarians, Hanar, and Humans all cheered on.

Will blinked, jumping in surprise as Susan suddenly whooped, and he turned to the Doctor. “If you wanted to take me to a talent contest, you could’ve just done Star Search!”

“Nah, that one’s boring!” The Doctor retorted, looking at Will reproachfully. “Who wants to watch a bunch of humans do stuff on stage when you can watch aliens do it?”

The Turian on the stage gestured for the crowd to settle down, and he spoke into his mic. “I’m your host, Lantar Kyrxis, but you already knew that. It’s so amazing seeing all of you out here. It seems like yesterday we were just a small thing on a pirate network cashing in on the nostalgia of old vids, but now look!” He gestured around, playing up the act for the cameras on him. “We’ve got _one billion_ people tuning in from all across the galaxy for this, our one-thousandth show! So, from the bottom of my heart and everyone here, thank you.”

Will looked to the Doctor curiously. “What is all this?”

“The one-thousandth show of the longest-running television program in the Milky Way.” The Doctor answered, nonchalantly throwing popcorn down his gullet. “Shepard had tickets but something came up at the last minute so she sent them my way.”

“We’ve got a lovely show for you tonight folks.” Kyrxis continued. “Some of the best acts we’ve had in the history of this program, I think. All are incredibly talented, beautiful people, but only _one_ is going to go home with the grand prize. And for tonight’s show, the finals, we’ve got a special prize for the winner, unlike anything we’ve offered before.”

“Oh, that’s new.” Susan leaned forward in her seat, enraptured. “What could it be?” She murmured, eyebrows furrowing together.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Kyrxis charismatically pointed. “’What could it be? Can you stop with all the pomp and circumstance and just tell us already?’ Well, friends, let me tell you here first. The grand prize for the one-thousandth episode of Milky Way’s Got Talent… is this;” He turned to the enormous holographic screen, the display activating with a shimmer, showing a golden-orange orb being contained in an energy shield of sorts.

The Doctor straightened up in his seat, attention piqued. “No…” He breathed, fixing a pair of reading glasses to his face. “That’s not possible…”

Susan picked up on the Doctor’s shock and turned to him. “What is it?”

“This, ladies and gents, is _immortality itself!_ ” Kyrxis gestured widely to the screen. “And tonight, it’s going home with _one_ lucky contestant! So, sit back, relax, and prepare yourselves for the best show of all time!” He hyped, going off-stage.

The Doctor sat, still frozen in shock as he stared at a screen. “…That’s an _Eternal._ ”

Susan whipped around to face the Doctor. “An _ETERNAL!?”_

“Yeah…” The Doctor mumbled, still staring as the viewer switched off. “It looks that way…”

“I don’t understand,” Will leaned over, lowering his voice. “What’s an Eternal?”

The Doctor wet his lips. “They’re… elemental beings.” He explained. “Beings of immense power and wisdom but limited in creativity. They use the thoughts and physical form of others in order to ensure their own existence.”

“Okay, but what makes that one so important?” Will inquired.

“That one’s still in its elemental state.” The Doctor explained. “And it’s being contained in a forcefield.”

“And that’s… bad?” Will guessed.

“Very bad.” The Doctor returned, turning to Will gravely. “I know pain when I see it, and I saw it in that Eternal. It’s being kept there against its will, probably, and whoever wins the contest is going to force it to bind to them.”

“So,” Susan looked to the Doctor, “How do we help it?” She resolved.

The Doctor smiled. “That’s my girl.” He approved, high fiving her. “High profile event like this with a prize like that, it’s going to have security most probably. Shouty people with lots of big guns probably.”

“So…” Will blinked. “What do we do?”

The Doctor glanced at the boy. “I hope you don’t have stage-fright.”

\----------

“Our first act tonight,” Kyrxis began, taking the stage again. “Is someone who started pursuing their passion for singing all the way back in _2259_.” He let his words sink in for a moment. “Think about that for a second. They are _older_ than this show itself. Older than most of this crowd _combined._ So it’s my great personal honor and pleasure to introduce to you again, the living monument to history itself, _RUSTY THE DALEK!”_

Kyrxis stepped aside, allowing the Dalek, casing painted in the same bronze, red, and gold hues typical to the Time Lords, to glide out onto the center of the stage, coming to a stop.

The Asari judge, by the name of Syrenna T’Soni, smiled as she leaned forward on the judges table. “Hello again, Rusty. It’s very good to see you again.”

“IT IS A PLEASURE TO SEE YOU AGAIN AS WELL.” Rusty replied, luminosity dischargers on the top of his dome flashing as he spoke.

“Big day, isn’t it?” The Salarian judge, Robt Balauu, asked. “Nervous?”

“NEGATIVE.” The Dalek replied.

The Salarian raised his brow. “How so?”

“I HAVE COME THIS FAR.” Rusty replied. “I WILL NOT GIVE INTO FEAR NOW!”

“Now,” The Krogan judge, Urdnot Thrax, picked up from his cohorts. “Last time you were here, you serenaded us with an absolutely _marvelous_ rendition of _Holding Out For a Hero_. What have you got for us this time?”

“YOU SHALL SEE!”

“Well then.” T’Soni threw up her hands. “We’re all ears. Good luck, Rusty.”

The Dalek’s eyestalk moved up and down, as a guitar instrumental backed by drums started up.

“DARLING YOU’VE GOT TO LET ME KNOW!” Rusty sang, spinning around like he was dancing. “SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?”

\---------

Far backstage, the Doctor, Will, and Susan were listening with rapt attention.

“Huh.” The Doctor blinked. “Not a bad singing voice, especially for a Dalek.” He turned back to the terminal, typing some stuff into the holographic keyboard. It wasn’t much, just a way to access the roster for tonight, but useful enough.

Susan looked to the Doctor as Will grimaced, mumbling that the Dalek had ruined the Clash, and she asked; “So, what are we supposed to be doing?”

“I’m adding you two to the itinerary of acts.” The Time Lord answered, flashing the psychic paper for the scanner, a trick similar to the one he pulled to get them backstage to begin with.

Will jumped in surprise, whipping around. “Us!? We don’t have an act!”

“You do now.” The Doctor handed Susan an OSD, the preferred storage format for the current era. “Listen to that, you’ll know what to do.”

Susan looked at the device, and then to the Doctor. “And _what_ are you going to be doing?”

“Trying to find where they’re keeping that Eternal locked up and breaking it out before the show ends.” The elder Time Lord answered, pivoting to walk away.

“ _Wait,_ ” Will held up, “We’re last-minute additions who’ve never been on this show before, they’re not going to let us on.”

“Sure they will.” The Doctor replied, poking Will in the chest. “The judges have already picked their winner, the whole show’s just all ceremony at this point. They’re not gonna care if two new arrivals show up outta nowhere to belt out a song.”

“…Song?” Susan groaned. “I have to sing?”

“Musical acts statistically last longer than most other ones.” The Doctor explained, looking at his watch. “I need all the time I can get to find our poor friend, that means making the show last as long as possible. Now, are you going to keep me held up here, or can I go and rescue the very powerful lifeform currently being kept locked away somewhere?”

Will and Susan looked at each other, and both let out a growling sigh. “Fine, go.” Susan said.

“But if we make asses of ourselves on live television,” Will held up a finger, “I’m going to kill you.”

“Death doesn’t scare me!” The Doctor shot back, twirling his cane as he stepped out.

\------------

Rusty finished singing, his luminosity dischargers falling dark as the crowd applauded him.

“That,” Balauu began as soon as the applause died down. “Was the _best_ performance you’ve given us so far. Like all your other performances, not only did you take a classic and modernize it, you did it without ruining the soul of what made it great.” He pointed with a pen.

They turned to the next judge down the line.

“I really can’t say much more than that.” Thrax agreed in his deep, rumbling baritone. “You put your all into it, and I can say with confidence, you’ve impressed all three of us more than a dozen times over.”

“I would go so far as to say you’ve impressed _everyone._ ” T’Soni corrected with a smile. “My great-granduncle in law met the creator of the Daleks, and he would never in a million years expect to see one of his creations do this. Now, good luck, Rusty. We’ll see you at the end of the show.”

“THANK YOU!” The Dalek turned to exit stage left.

“Up next!” Kyrxis announced. “You love him! It’s the Zygon of a Thousand Forms… PETE!”

\-----------

_“Will the owner of an Intrepid-class starship, Naval Construction Contract Number: 74656, please move it out of the loading zone?”_ A VI asked, as the Doctor skulked through the lower levels of the Stardome.

He ducked behind a crate, a guard carrying an assault rifle walking past.

Milky Way’s Got Talent had some _serious_ security.

Once the guard was gone, the Doctor popped back up, and walked to the door the guard had emerged from. Deadlocked. He was going to have to find another way around.

Pulling up a grating on the floor with his cane, the Doctor hopped down into a maintenance tunnel, concealing his entry behind him, before he began to crawl forth.

\-----------

Forty five minutes went past as the final acts of the show went by one by one, Will and Susan anxiously pacing around, before they were led out onto the stage.

“Oh…” Kyrxis blinked, reading from the teleprompter. “It seems here we’ve got some last-minute acts… please give a warm round of applause to Will Byers and Susan Foreman!”

The audience clapped, nonetheless confused, as the two were led out onto the center of the stage.

_“Okay, Will, remember:”_ Susan sent to him. _“We’ve got this.”_

“…Hello.” T’Soni greeted first after a while. “My great-grandmother Liara served on board the Normandy with a girl named Susan Foreman.”

“Uh, yeah.” Susan nodded, handing Will the mic. “That’s me… hello.”

“Why don’t you tell us a bit about yourselves?” Balauu prompted, leaning forward with his hands clasped.

“Well, I’m Susan, this is Will…” The girl gestured. “And we’re going to sing a song for you.”

“…Very well.” Thrax nodded. “Good luck.”

Will and Susan nodded, as the lights dimmed.

“Am I throwing you off?” Susan asked Will, that being the prompt.

“Nope.” Will replied, on the verge of locking up from stage fright.

_“Hey, just focus on me.”_ Susan telepathically recommended. _“Don’t think about the crowd, or the judges, or the cameras, focus on_ me. _On the sound of my voice.”_ “Didn’t think so.”

The beat started, and the whole world seemed to vanish as Will focused solely on Susan. “How you doin’ young lady? The feeling that you’re giving really drives me crazy. You don't have to play about the joke. I was at a loss of words first time that we spoke.”

“You lookin' for a girl that'll treat you right?” Susan sang in response, tilting her glasses down. “You lookin' for her in the daytime with the light?”

“You might be the type if I play my cards right.” Will continued, as he slowly became more comfortable now that all he could see was Susan. “I'll find out by the end of the night.”

“You expect me to just let you hit it?” Susan sardonically sang. “Will you still respect me if you get it?”

“All I can do is try, give me one chance. What's the problem? I don't see no ring on your hand. I be the first to admit it. I'm curious about you, you seem so innocent.” Well, Susan was _far_ from innocent if the last few nights on the TARDIS were any indication for Will, but those were the lyrics, so…

“You wanna get in my world, get lost in it.” Susan swaggered up to Will. “Boy I'm tired of running, let's walk for a minute.”

“Promiscuous girl, wherever you are, I'm all alone, and it's you that I want.” Will sang, now _genuinely_ into the song.

“Promiscuous boy,” Susan returned with a smile, “You already know, that I'm all yours, what you waiting for?”

“Promiscuous girl,” Will had never, never, ever done _anything_ on a stage, let alone sing, but right now, he was positively _reveling_ in it. “You're teasing me. You know what I want, and I got what you need.”

“Promiscuous boy,” Susan, somehow, without any electronic aid, modulated her voice to sound like she was singing several times at once. “Let's get to the point, cause we're on a roll, you ready?”

The two on stage were performing their parts perfectly, now it was all down to the Doctor to rescue the Eternal.

\----------

_“Roses are red, Some diamonds are blue, Chivalry is dead, But you're still kind of cute.”_ Susan’s voice, backed by the music, echoed into the maintenance sections.

The Doctor looked to the wall with a scowl. “I told them to play Hey Ya!”

_“Hey, I can't keep my mind off you,”_ Will’s voice rumbled the floor. “ _Where you at, do you mind if I come through?”_

The Doctor shook his head as he continued crawling. He stopped, abruptly coming to the outer hull of a starship’s evacuation tunnel, sealed at the moment since it was docked with the station.

_“'m out of this world, come with me to my planet. Get you on my level do you think that you can handle it?”_

“Of course I went in the _exact wrong_ direction.” He sighed, backpedaling.

“ _They call me Thomas, last name Crown.”_ Will belted out wholeheartedly. _“Recognize game I'm a lay mine's down.”_

The Doctor rounded a corner, coming to a dead-end, and rolled onto his back, looking at a panel bolted in place.

_“I'm a big girl, I can handle myself.”_ The Doctor tried to tune Susan out as he soniced the screws in each corner of the metal plate. “ _But if I get lonely I'mma need your help. Pay attention to me I don't talk for my health.”_

_“I want you on my team.”_

_“So does everybody else.”_

All of the screws removed, the Doctor pushed the panel up, popping his head out like a groundhog.

_“Shh, baby we can keep it on the low. Let your guard down ain't nobody gotta know. If you with it girl, I know a place we can go.”_

The Time Lord looked around. The place was laid out like a bank vault, laser grids and detection systems surrounding the spherical orb locked in the case at the centre of the room.

_“What kind of girl do you take me for?”_

_“Promiscuous girl, wherever you are, I'm all alone and it's you that I want.”_

The Doctor flicked the sonic open and pointed it at the control panel for the security system, holding the button down.

_“Promiscuous boy, you already know, that I'm all yours. What you waiting for?”_

The lasers and detectors in the room all shut off, as the Doctor walked over to the pedestal in the centre of the room.

_“Promiscuous girl, you're teasing me, you know what I want, and I got what you need.”_

The Doctor twisted the canister on the top and slid it out. “Don’t worry.” He said to the Eternal locked inside. He would’ve freed it then and there but he had no clue if it would hurt the poor alien. “I’m gonna get you outta here.” He pledged, walking back over to the open floor panel in the ground.

_“Promiscuous boy, let's get to the point, cause we're on a roll. You ready?”_

“Welp, time to go crawling in the ducts like a voyeur again.” The Doctor dropped back into the maintenance duct, and pulled the panel back over him, crawling away.

All that was left now was for Will and Susan to finish.

\-----------

“Don't get mad, Don't get mean.” Will sang, almost out of breath. He was _not_ used to pacing himself like that. But they were almost done.

He hoped.

“Don't get mad, don't be mean.” Susan returned, keeping his attention squarely focused on her.

“Hey! Don't be mad, don't get mean.” Will continued, the crowd clapping along to the song.

“Don't get mad, don't be mean.”

“Wait…” Will threw up his hands, taking the moment to breathe. “I don’t mean no harm. I can see you with my t-shirt on.”

Susan winked. “I can see you with nothing on, feeling on me before you bring that on.”

“Bring that on?” Will repeated, sending a silent inquiry.

“You know what I mean.” Susan replied, sending back what amounted to a salacious text.

“Girl, I'm a freak, you shouldn't say those things.” Will inwardly giggled, he knew _exactly_ what she had in mind later.

“I'm only trying to get inside your brain,” Susan kept on. “To see if you can work me the way you say.”

.”It's okay, it's alright,” Will continued. “I got something that you gon' like.”

“Hey is that the truth or are you talking trash? Is your game M.V.P. like Steve Nash?”

Will blinked. _‘Who the hell is Steve Nash?’_ “Promiscuous girl, wherever you are, I'm all alone and it's you that I want.”

“Promiscuous boy,” Susan hit the high note with all her might. “I'm calling your name, but you're driving me crazy, he way you're making me wait.”

“Promiscuous girl,” Will twirled around Susan. “You're teasing me. You know what I want and I got what you need.”

“Promiscuous boy,” Breathed Susan, finishing off the song. “We're one in the same, so we don't gotta play games no more.”

The music cut out, and the two of them doubled over, breathing heavily, as the crowd applauded. Will and Susan leaned against each other, the world returning around them slowly, but they were both still lost in each other's eyes for a few moments.

_Before_ they could give into their urges and start making out on stage right then and there, however, they were snapped back to reality by the judges.

“Amazing!” Balauu lauded. “Incredible, absolutely incredible!”

T’Soni grinned, her breath taken away. “We-“

Susan’s phone beeped, and she glanced at it.

The Doctor had succeeded in getting the Eternal back to the TARDIS.

“Right, come on Will!” She ordered, pulling him off stage, past the confused host.

Kyrxis blinked, turning to the crowd. “And just as mysteriously as they arrived… they vanished.”

\----------

“…”

“…”

El and Mike blinked, sitting cross-legged on her bed. The two looked to each other, then to Susan and Will.

“That did _not_ happen.” El called.

Will spluttered, defensively crossing his arms. “It did too!”

El shook her head. “I _refuse_ to believe that you got up on stage and sang well enough that _everybody_ loved you.”

“Well, fine…” Will huffed. “We may have fudged a… detail or two. But the rest of it all actually happened, I’m telling you!”

“And…” Mike looked on inquiringly. “ _How_ did that save the universe?”

“Sorry?” Susan asked.

“You said it was, and I quote, ‘The music battle to save the universe.’” Mike stated, dripping sarcasm. “How did that save the universe?”

“Well, um, you see…” Susan rubbed the back of her neck. “That was a… hook?”

Mike sighed. “A hook?”

“Yeah, you know, to get you interested in the st-“

“I know what a hook is!”

“So,” El tilted her head. “What happened to the Eternal?”

“We dropped it off back home.” Will explained. “The Doctor said they live in Calabi-Yau space. The one we rescued was just a kid that couldn’t find its way back home, and that’s why it got captured in the first place.”

El nodded with a smile. “So…”

“So what?”

“You want to give us a performance?”

Susan and Will looked to each other, and reluctantly sighed.


End file.
